


RECONFIGURATION

by dazza69



Category: George Clooney sci fi paranoid conspiracy movie
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:13:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28653309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dazza69/pseuds/dazza69
Comments: 1





	RECONFIGURATION

RECONFIGURATION 

I would describe this film as being MINORITY REPORT meets THE PLAYER

Reconfiguration is a film that begins as a documentary about a Hollywood film star but shifts direction to become a fast-paced paranoid conspiracy thriller. The film chronicles the life of a film star, a member of the Hollywood elite, but then asks the question: What would happen if this famous Hollywood film star was accused of the murder of a successful actress? What would then transpire if the film star discovered that the murder has actually been committed by an identical reproductive clone? This is only the starting point of an exciting thriller that will portray a plot hatched by a group of powerful individuals to instigate a massive conspiracy against America. The film will focus on various questions that will be investigated within the boundaries of several film genres. Reconfiguration envisions a possible illustration of a future for America that could become a reality, but only after the film star is framed for murder to sabotage his dream of becoming the president of the United States.  
As I was writing this story George Clooney was the actor I had in mind for the role of the Hollywood star. I have written the whole film synopsis in the style of a ‘star vehicle’ that may to some degree reflect Clooney’s own interests and beliefs. Within the plot of Reconfiguration he would perform two separate acting roles. The first is the part of the influential Hollywood star and the vital second role is as the reproductive clone. The clone will be as charming, sociable and extrovert as the original man; however, the double will carry out a vicious murder that destroys the life of the real Hollywood star. The film will then follow Clooney on a path to clear his name and discover the true reasons behind the murder. He will learn that this crime is only a smaller part of a much larger and dangerous conspiracy against America.  
Reality and fiction will intersect throughout the film to create an unusual vision in mainstream cinema. The film will begin in the style of a documentary with the filmmaker recording and chronicling George Clooney’s life as a famous actor. The audience will witness business meetings, chat show appearances and his preparation for a new movie role. We hear the thoughts of Clooney on his life in the Hollywood spotlight and the audience see the lines that are blurred between the life of a film star and the reality of his personal life. Furthermore it will become apparent that the filming of the documentary has been planned deliberately, to coincide with Clooney’s announcement of a run for the Democratic nomination for the United States presidency. What happens next will completely alter the direction of the film narrative, as a famous actress is murdered at a Beverly Hills party. The crime is seen in real time on the screen and what the audience witness will leave them in no doubt that Clooney has murdered this woman. 

Police and detectives arrive at the house in Beverly Hills and immediately cordon off the murder scene. There are many witnesses at the house who confirm that they saw Clooney and the woman together at the party. LAPD forensic scientists report that the woman’s body is covered in scratches and bruises, and the DNA they collect from the crime scene is quickly tied to Clooney. The chief investigating officer is a black female detective called Darcy Briggs, she has suspicions about the case because normal homicides are not normally so straight forward. However, to the LAPD this seems to be an open and shut case and Briggs quickly becomes the lone dissenting voice amongst the investigating officers. Her instincts cannot understand why a man who has announced a run for the presidency would carry out a seemingly motiveless murder. These doubts continue to bother her regarding the likelihood of Clooney committing a murder at such a crucial time, in what seemed to be an inexorable march toward the White House. She is sympathetic to Clooney during police interviews and cannot imagine this mild mannered humanitarian to be a murderer. The only theory she can come up with is that he has been framed in an attempt to destroy his presidential nomination.  
The Hollywood star continues to plead his innocence but the DNA evidence is overwhelming and he is charged with first degree murder. He does have an alibi as his wife tells authorities that he was with her on the night of the murder. The alibi is problematic for the prosecution court case against Clooney, but it also puts his wife in a very difficult position as she is corroborating a story that could lead to her perjuring herself on the witness stand. This alibi and the actor’s elite position in Los Angeles society gives the judge in the case the chance to set bail at $1million. The prosecution lawyer makes an agreement with the defence for Clooney to relinquish his passport to block any attempt of absconding from the United States.  
The release of Clooney from jail gives him the opportunity to investigate the murder; however, he is bewildered as to where he can find answers in the sprawling conurbation of Los Angeles. To give the film a sense of authenticity it should continue to be made in the style of a documentary, but with elements of film noir, as an honest man is dragged into the shadows of the corruption that is endemic in business and politics. The aim is to produce a truthful vision of the existence of the individual inside the entertainment industry. The audience need to buy into the belief that Clooney is being accused of murder, and that resultant questions will be raised about how celebrities and their lifestyles are viewed by the public. The Hollywood murder story becomes a global news sensation and Clooney is now shunned and vilified where once he was feted. The fundamental question that will be asked is would a film like this damage Clooney’s off-screen image? I believe that people are intelligent enough to see this as a work of fiction. The film would lose a considerable amount of its impact if Clooney were to play a fictitious character; although of course it would still be possible for the film to be made with Clooney playing a pretend Hollywood star.

George Clooney appears to enjoy placing radical visions on to celluloid but he works within a proviso that the entertainment of the audience is still of paramount importance. The public are obsessed by true crime shows and documentaries and this film would be a real study of Clooney’s life both before and after the murder. I would remind you of the dozens of Hollywood stars who played themselves in The Player, directed by Robert Altman. Reconfiguration could be a film that is produced both as an artistic endeavour in the vein of the classical Hollywood system and as a groundbreaking cinematic experience. Documentary style camera angles, editing and digital handheld cameras could also enhance the experience to create a style of guerilla filmmaking.  
As the story progresses the audience will see a major variation in narrative direction and tone. The film will become a ‘genre mash up’ as the fast-paced documentary narrative style now becomes a paranoid hi-tech thriller. The film follows Clooney on a revelatory journey as he gets closer and closer to the heart of a conspiracy, that he discovers is much more than just an attempt to destroy one man. Clooney uncovers a plot by leading entrepreneurial figures in the west coast liberal elite that will threaten the fabric of modern America. The conspiracy film genre has a strong sense of momentum implicit in the narrative, and this often conveys events that are out of control and unstoppable. At this point in the film a dream sequence could be useful as a plot device; however, it should be used in a unique way, as many filmmakers use the dream sequence in a tired, predictable and hackneyed manner. In this film the dream would be an actual premonition that reveals hidden information allowing progression in the storyline. Clooney dreams about the murder that he has supposedly committed and in his dream he clearly sees his own face, as it mechanically slides away to reveal a computer robotic visage beneath.  
This terrifying and chilling vision greatly effects our protagonist who becomes convinced that a robot doppelganger has carried out the murder of the famous actress. In an attempt to gain some insight he visits one of his writer friends who lives in San Diego. Paul Hailsman is a highly respected science fiction author who immediately disregards the killer robot theory, ‘Because of the preponderance of DNA evidence.’ However, he does raise the theory that it is ‘Not a robot, but possibly a clone?’  
A week later Clooney arranges to visit a leading genetics professor from a Californian laboratory. Dr Mark Orgreave had previously worked as an adviser on one of Clooney’s films and they meet for lunch at a famous Beverly Hills restaurant. Orgreave gives him a short history of cloning technologies since the birth of Dolly the sheep in 1986. Real footage of cloned pets and animals could be shown on screen in a montage called ‘a brief history of cloning’, and the montage could also include quotes from the leading scientists doing research at the forefront of cloning technology.  
‘Would it be possible to grow a clone to adulthood in a few weeks?’ Clooney questions.  
The professor explains: ‘If a reproductive clone had carried out the murder then it would have been born and grown to adulthood in a matter of weeks. This would be an advance generations ahead of what has been revealed to the world about the technology of cloning. Obviously this is impossible unless it has been done in secret.’  
Clooney inquires about the main corporations that have included cloning technology in their research and development strategies. The professor thinks for a moment and then tells him about a man called Jonathan Jones; a 78 year old billionaire entrepreneur and a leading figure in green technologies, solar energy and social media. He is a rich and powerful man who has been recently acquiring news channels and film production companies to add to his vast global media empire. 

Mark Orgreave goes on to explain that after the completion of his PHD in the mid 1960s, Jones’ brilliant scientific mind was quickly identified by the American security apparatus, for whom he had then worked for many years. There are claims that in the late sixties he had led CIA teams that had used LSD and MDMA in mind control experiments on American troops. He was also believed to have been based in Indo-China during the Vietnam War, after photographs emerged of him at the US embassy in Saigon. An expose at the time, by journalists at The New York Times, claimed that upwards of 2000 Vietnamese soldiers and civilians had been killed during experiments to mimic the effects of heroin and opium addiction upon the psychological and physical wellbeing of US soldiers.  
Other articles written by journalists made further unsubstantiated claims that US army medical teams had inflicted physical injuries on Vietnamese prisoners. These injuries included amputations caused by grenade explosions and torso damage from gunshot wounds. These horrific injuries were inflicted upon the Vietnamese soldiers in the laboratory, without anesthesia, so as to closely resemble real battlefield injuries. It was later claimed by some of the scientists involved that these experiments were administered to aid in the treatment and recovery of injured American soldiers in Vietnam.  
It was also alleged that a number of front line United States army regiments were given secret orders that had been identified in a document called Directive 922. This directive had given orders to US troops to imprison orphaned babies and young children from Vietnamese villages; who were then used as subjects in classified genetic experiments, which were carried out at secret black-ops sites. It was believed that Jones was involved at the highest level of the top secret American genetics research, and might even have been the head scientist for the programme. Cloning had been the ‘holy grail’ in the field of genetic research since the 1950s, and work by the British scientist Sir John Gurdon in the reproduction of frogs in the late sixties had shown what might be possible in the techniques of animal cloning.  
Whilst implementing the agenda of Directive 922 in Vietnam, it was said that Jones had shown particular interest in the research into identical twins. Various cloning experiments were carried out that would often lead to the death of the subjects, and this was then followed by meticulous autopsies performed on the children. Ranking officers at the Department of Defence and the Pentagon were asking questions regarding the research that Jones had been doing with vast American financial support. At the end of the war Jones had disappeared from Vietnam as quickly as he had appeared. There had then been unsubstantiated claims of his scientific research for the security services of the Chilean and Nicaraguan governments in South America throughout the strife torn decade of the 1980s.  
Jonathan Jones resurfaced in Los Angeles, at the start of the 1990s, as the CEO for an animal cloning company based in Malibu. The Petz Corporation was making huge profits by cloning the cats, dogs and more exotic pets of the Hollywood elite. Petz benefitted from an enthusiastic following amongst Californian film and music stars, and Jones had become something of a celebrity in Beverly Hills, where he was known as the ‘pet god.’ It was rumoured that Brad Pitt had paid one million dollars to have his pet tiger Sabre duplicated after its death from a brain tumour. Beyonce and Jay Z were saddened by the death of their Komodo dragon which was cloned by Jones for a fee of $500,000. 

Jonathan Jones had not gone fully legitimate because it would be impossible to achieve this after having worked in the security services for more than 30 years. There were still stories that swirled around him and his links to military research in genetics, cloning and artificial intelligence. Even his celebrity friends at Hollywood parties shared gossip about his stewardship of black-ops sites in New Mexico. The Pentagon made a concerted attempt to muzzle the journalists who were trying to investigate the secret research that, it was said, would eventually lead to genetically modified American super soldiers who would be stronger, faster and less susceptible to physical injury on the battlefield.  
Clooney desires to speak with Johnathan Jones, so he arranges to have a meeting with representatives from the The Petz Corporation, to discuss the cloning of his beloved Alsatian dog. He explains that Max has been his companion for 12 years but is seriously ill. He is told it will cost $500,000 for a cloned puppy of the original dog. At this moment a tall, grey haired man approaches him as he is being given a tour of the Petz laboratory. The man introduces himself as Jonathan Jones and they make small talk before Jones asks Clooney about the murder trial, and the strenuous effect that it must be having upon him. There is an instant rapport between the two intelligent men who discuss various advances in clone technology, and Clooney takes the opportunity to question Jones on the latest research into human reproductive clones.  
‘You are a man at the forefront of research into genetic engineering, and I need an expert to talk to’, says Clooney.  
Jones commends him on his knowledge and Clooney makes it clear that he suspects a clone has been produced to frame him for murder. Jonathan Jones informs Clooney that ‘At the present time the cloning of humans is scientifically impossible.’  
Before he leaves the LA office, Jones offers to show Clooney around his main genetics laboratory that is located at a desert site in New Mexico. After flying down a week later to New Mexico, from a private airstrip in LA, Clooney is escorted in a Humvee from his Gulfstream jet to an underground high tech laboratory situated in an area of innocuous scrub land desert. The compound that stretches out before him seems to have been reproduced from a blueprint from a science fiction film. Clooney has to give a blood sample to confirm his identity before he can pass through several gates surrounded by watchtowers. Security cameras follow his every move.  
Armed guards escort him to a laboratory on level 35 of a vast underground complex. Clooney and Jones meet once again and there is a genuine feeling of warmth between the two men. Jones states that he will soon publically announce: ‘I am running for the position of vice president of the United States.’ He also tells Clooney that the entrepreneurial elite will give unanimous support to a billionaire, called Jeffery Daniels, to be the Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States. News footage shows Jonathan Jones with Daniels, and the close bond that exists between these entrepreneurs is evident. ‘We are both waiting for a revolution, inspired by a new world order, that advocates America being controlled by high technology and surveillance,’ states Jones. 

Clooney realises that the two entrepreneurs are symbols of the synchronization of Silicon Valley and US politics into one system. Jones continues to explain: ‘It is inevitable that the mass media will champion a partnership that seems destined for the White House. There will be unanimous agreement that as political outsiders we will signify a new era that will not be defined by the old and dead political system.’ Jonathan Jones shows Clooney an article from Newsweek magazine in which he was revered as ‘The closest thing to a god on earth,’ and he insists that, ‘The media portrays me as a visionary who raises others into higher levels of consciousness through science and technology.’  
‘The reconfiguration of the system had been running as accurately as the world atomic clock until you put your name forward for the Democratic nomination,’ says Jones, who now reveals the devastating news: ‘It was I who duplicated you with a clone of astonishing brilliance and intelligence. The clone was reproduced and released into your world to destroy you and your nomination campaign.’  
‘What will you do to me now that you have revealed all this information?’ asks a shocked Clooney.  
‘I have revealed only a small part of our plan to you. What you now know is only the fine edges of a work of scientific genius that will reconfigure America forever. I am going to show you the whole plan because you will die in this place and your clone will replace you out there in the real world. You will face disgrace and humiliation, and your life and career will be over. The clone will plead guilty to the murder of the woman and go to jail.’  
Jones is getting into his stride now as he insists, that ‘With my help the development of reproductive clones is only one of the advances that the US military has achieved in research and development over the past thirty years. I have also been at the forefront of groundbreaking research into artificial intelligence, which has led to the creation of Trident, the most powerful quantum computing system on the planet.  
A sliding wall rolls away to reveal a machine of gleaming dials, LED screens and fluorescent lights. ‘In Greek Mythology the God Poseidon used a three pronged spear called a trident to strike the earth to create earthquakes. This Trident that I have created is an artificial intelligence system far more powerful than even the greatest of human minds. With incredible accuracy it can predict future events, using patterns of advanced algorithms that can run millions of potential scenarios. Trident then provides the most likely outcome based on the data that it has processed and analysed.’  
Jones reveals that, ‘Trident has been live and thinking for two years, and in that time it has been 96.6 percent accurate in predicting the winners of various professional sporting contests. Furthermore, it has attained figures of 85 percent in predicting the actual final scores in thousands of soccer, basketball and American football matches. Most impressive of all is its 93 percent accuracy rate in predicting the future movements of share prices on the global stock markets. These developments are initiatives of the deep state, which will continue to confirm the United States hegemony of the globe. The next two decades will see our complete military dominance of outer space, where it is certain that science fiction will be turned into a military reality.’ 

Jones enthusiastically expresses his opinion: ‘The entrepreneurial community has become increasingly frustrated by the slow pace of political progress, and so we have decided to take control in America to speed up what is an inevitable process of reconfiguration.’ The old man shows Clooney a metallic object, informing him that this is a mind reading device, ‘An army helmet that allows soldiers to speak to each other using thought transference during battlefield scenarios.’ He explains that, ‘The helmet collects brainwaves from specific areas of the neural cortex in the brain of one soldier, and sends them remotely to another soldier’s helmet, where they are translated into images in that soldier’s mind. Similar methods of brain stimulation have seen the militarisation of animals and insects in surveillance operations for the US army.’  
As he listens to the plan that is unfolding before his eyes, Clooney begins to understand the true nature of the man’s ambitions for global domination. Jones explains: ‘For the past 9 months Trident has been running a powerful artificial intelligence simulation that has predicted the most likely outcome of a massive earthquake on the city of Los Angeles. It has used algorithms to run thousands of different scenarios to show what potentially could happen to the economic, social and political spheres in America in the aftermath of such a quake. It has given me a prophecy for the future of America after the fall of LA and I would like to share this vision with you.’  
The mind reading helmet is placed firmly on Clooney’s head and begins to transmit the information from Trident directly into Clooney’s brain. The images reveal the recent events leading up to, and the 6 month period following the accession of Jeffrey Daniels to the presidency of the United States. At the heart of its prediction is a radical vision of what will befall a future America.  
Trident shows images of a nuclear engineer called Paul Betts, who has both a PHD in nuclear engineering and an interest in the philosophy of the neo-Nazis. Jonathan Jones had identified him as a suitable candidate for their future campaign, through a series of WhatsApp messages over a three month period. By using a false online identity during their conversations, Jones has discovered that Betts was gravely disappointed by his repeated failures in life, and blames these failings on the immigrants and African Americans. The young man also hates the liberal elites of Hollywood, and views Los Angeles as a place of corruption and debauchery. His social media platforms show his avid support for the militias whom he believes will be at the forefront of an armed insurrection against the federal government. He has formed his own militia group called the Homeland Defence Militia. It has a small online following and an impressive logo of a Bushmaster AR15 - M4 Carbine rifle, lying across a scythe, which he explains to Jones is a symbol for both the military and agrarian roots of American exceptionalism.  
Trident then shows us images from a pamphlet called The Project for a Future Vision of America not Amerika that has been written by Betts. It is a manifesto that anticipates a second civil war in America that will once again be based upon the issue of race. Betts believes that the seeds of the coming race war will be easy to sow and will be provoked by the racial intolerance that has marked America since its inception. His manifesto identifies a specific conflagration that will be formented in black and Hispanic regions by militia groups. White men will ‘black up’ and carry out attacks on white women and children in racially segregated cities such as Atlanta, Detroit and Los Angeles. Furthermore his manifesto goes on to advocate attacks on the bars, restaurants and small businesses owned by middle class whites. He can see no other path but that of immolation before America can be reborn again.  
Betts predicts that the coming victory of white America will lead to the imposition of a single separate state for all black people, with a forced relocation for all ethnic groups. The danger posed by what he sees as a proliferation of the new Muslims will lead to a total ban on the Islamic religion in America. His manifesto of hate goes on to call for re-education programmes and forced labour for the millions of undesirables and enemies of America, who will be imprisoned inside internment camps.  
Jonathan Jones believes that Betts is the perfect ‘front man’ to unknowingly lead his campaign of reconfiguration. Betts has been targeted and groomed by a fellow alt right campaigner who works for Jones’ corporation, and who has moulded this young man into a killer who will shake America to its foundations. Jones knows that the young man’s hate and disgust with America will be easily channeled to create an incident of shocking devastation. He has been recruited as a ‘patsy’ who is going to be given a small tactical nuclear weapon and will become the archetypical ‘lone wolf’ bomber.  
The Jones Corporation had considerable difficulty in procuring a tactical ground burst nuclear weapon, and had to work their way through a network of Asian front companies to make contact with various arms dealers. They finally found the right connections and paid $100 million for a nuclear bomb that was obtained for them by a corrupt Pakistan general called Abdul Ashraff. The deal was finally completed in a room on the 25th floor of a Dubai hotel of shining chrome and glass. The front companies also paid off the Kazakhstan ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, who flew the nuclear bomb on a private jet from a small airstrip in Dubai to New Jersey. There was no search of the plane due to its diplomatic protection and that ensured its safe arrival on American soil. Jones tells Clooney, ‘We all know that money can buy almost anyone, and in this particular case it cost us 10 million dollars to gain the ambassador’s assistance.’  
Trident shows us images of Paul Betts, standing at a point approximately 40 kilometres from Los Angeles. He is using a mechanical excavator to dig down to a depth of about fifty metres in the San Andreas Fault. We watch as Trident continues to reveal the future, as we witness Betts placing a small nuclear bomb deep inside a fissure on the fault line. Geological scientists who work for Jones have pinpointed an exact location to deposit the weapon so that it causes maximum seismic activity inside the city.

‘What magnitude of quake caused by a nuclear explosion could strike Los Angeles?’ asks Clooney. 

Jones replies: ‘Of the 10 biggest earthquakes to hit the west coast over the last 1200 years, the most common strength was about 7.5 in magnitude. One other quake that struck the west coast in 1550 was estimated to be a 7.9. Trident has predicted that an explosion, caused by a nuclear device inside the fault line itself, might cause an earthquake of magnitude 8.5, and that is a massive multiplier of destruction over a 7.9 quake.’   
The future footage streamed by Trident shows how the earthquake destroys large areas of Los Angeles, and because it is a shallow quake, it causes far greater structural damage to the metropolis. Footage beamed into Clooney’s brain from the mind reading headset shows the terrifying vision that is the Great Los Angeles Quake predicted by Trident. The violent tremours of the massive quake shake and destroy huge skyscrapers that fall to the earth below. Rail lines and road bridges across the city are torn asunder. About 40,000 brick buildings are irreparably damaged, and the global news channels report that at least 20,000 people are still trapped inside dozens of high-rise steel buildings that have collapsed. Casualty figures change by the hour and the early estimates of 30,000 killed and 50,000 wounded are quickly accepted to be a low approximation of the levels of the eventual dead and injured. 

Trident has predicted that there will be up to a trillion dollars in damage and severe long-lasting disruption to California. Many TV stations and newspaper offices will be destroyed and Hollywood will be completely flattened. The nuclear explosion and earthquake will cause mass panic across America. Paul Betts live streams the whole nuclear explosion on Facebook Live and it is watched in real time by at least three million people around the globe. Within minutes the footage is shared by 100s of millions of people across the planet. Within an hour the explosion and the mushroom cloud are the dominant images seen on all news channels in every country on earth. Trident has prophesied that detonating the bomb outside the city will create fear and panic because a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, will magnify the belief that God has punished mankind.

This is the point at which President Daniels will begin his campaign to reconfigure America in an image most conducive to the liberal elites. The president will quickly release a false version of events, which is actually their carefully planned story of an earthquake caused by a nuclear bomb, which has been built by an engineer in the cellar of his own home. One of the most vital but also most difficult parts of the plan, had been the acquisition of the uranium required to arm a nuclear device. This was stolen from a weapons testing facility in Nevada to which Betts had a previous research connection. < Paul Betts will be linked to the robbery of the uranium from the Las Vegas site, and the media will claim that he used the radioactive material to build his own nuclear weapon to destroy Los Angeles. The news media do their job to precision and report the story exactly as it is fed to them by the American government. The reporters do; however, put in the leg work to interview professors at universities where Paul Betts conducted research for his PHD. Two professors who worked with him at MIT talk of the engineer as being, ‘An excellent researcher,’ but they also provide a picture of a loner who was characterized by his outbursts against America. Meanwhile across the planet, the 24 hour cable news network repeatedly play the same three videos of Betts angry rants against America, which he had previously uploaded to YouTube. Clooney continues to view this astonishing future vision via the images projected from Trident. After the great quake he witnesses the appearance of the American president on television news networks around the world. His 12 minute Oval Office statement will have the highest TV viewing figures in history, with at least 5 billion people watching it live across the globe. The president announces that his government has no alternative but to implement country wide martial law, a night time curfew and a state of emergency. He explains that, ‘The seriousness of the crisis facing the republic means that there is no choice but to bring in stringent powers for the federal government and the military.’ The city of San Francisco is untouched by the earthquake, and in the aftermath of the disaster quickly becomes the main information technology and communications hub for the west coast of America. President Jones and Vice President Daniels do not want to see the complete destruction of Los Angeles, because it will be reconfigured as a new cyber technology and surveillance hub for the New World Order. This rebuilding of the west coast will completely define the first term of the Daniels’ presidency. Of course there are many people who are not happy with this changing world, and in the weeks following the nuclear explosion, there are skirmishes across the USA between extremist groups from the left and right. The algorithms used by Trident predict that the civil unrest will increase calls from the media for tighter controls to protect Americans from the anarchy that has engulfed the whole country. This further legitimizes the agenda of draconian controls that are enacted by the president with the aid of the National Guard. Trident concludes that millions of opponents of the new epoch will be rounded up and incarcerated in huge prison camps encircling the large urban conurbations.  
There are also the unforeseen results of the great LA quake that millions of people will claim was an Act of God. Trident has foreseen a worldwide religious awakening, with an immense upsurge in fundamentalist Christianity in rural communities around the globe. It will not just be in America that Christian beliefs predominate and tens of millions of people claim to have been ‘born again.’ Large Christian communes spring up in various western European cities, and a huge new puritanical congregation in the UK, called the neo-puritans, gain influence and political power. Reporters from TV news channels from around the globe converge on the UK to report on these new puritans, who claim the destruction of Los Angeles is a reckoning by God against the new ‘Gomorrah.’  
The surge in popular support for Christianity is not the only surprising result of the great Los Angeles earthquake. The media report on huge open air gatherings in Europe and America by supporters of the alternative right. Trident predicts that two million people will converge on a site just outside Berlin to celebrate the destruction of Hollywood and the entertainment industry. Many on the far right view Paul Betts as an exulted and heroic figure and, in the months following the earthquake, the mass murderer becomes the most famous man in the world. It is not just right wing groups that gain a boost in popularity. In California dozens of humanitarian hippie communes sprout up along the Pacific coastline. Trident estimates that 1.5 million people will go ‘off grid’ in the six months after the quake; to live a spiritual life cohabiting in tents and wooden dwellings on beaches in Malibu, Santa Cruz and Long Beach. Clooney removes the brainwave helmet and we see that he is overwhelmed by the sheer power of the vision of the future that Trident has shown him. He is shocked, dismayed and incredulous, but most of all he feels a powerless rage. ‘You are insane, you will never get away with this,’ is the only thing he can blurt out to the scientist. Jones makes a short telephone call and then moments later a guard arrives at the laboratory escorted by the clone. George Clooney and his genetically reproduced clone meet face to face for the first time. It is a fascinating scene as the two men mimic the other’s facial gestures and hand movements. ‘It is a perfect copy of me,’ gasps Clooney. The clone smiles as it repeats the phrase, ‘It is a perfect copy of me.’ It is hypnotic to watch the two identical men circling and examining each other. Clooney has a feeling of connection with his identical twin. He quickly realises that this psychic link between the two of them might be his only hope of stopping Jonathan Jones’ crazed plan to reconfigure America. Jonathan Jones leaves the laboratory and the doubles waste no time in beginning a discussion about the meaning of life, the nature of free will and the role of individual freedom in our own behaviour. Clooney knows that he has to make an emotional link with this double, so he asks the clone if he had felt any guilt or shame as he murdered the woman at the party. ‘What is guilt and shame?’ replies the clone Clooney in response explains that ‘Man has learned how to control and suppress his primeval instincts.’ ‘What is a man and what does a man really do?’ is the next question asked by the clone. In reply to this, Clooney asks the question: ‘What is the ultimate achievement of mankind? Is it to be kind and respectful or is violence and greed the real reason for our existence on earth?’ Clooney hopes he is convincing the clone that the murder was not justified. We watch this fascinating discussion on the nature of humanity knowing that one man is about to be replaced by a genetic copy. The clone seems to be horrified and remorseful that even in his short time on earth he has already committed a murder. Clooney tells the clone: ‘It is true that you have killed a human being but you are not to blame for this. Jonathan Jones is your father, and your god because he has created you from a cell. You must look in his direction and blame the man who forced you to carry out this immoral act. This is a sin against the God who is the creator of all things on earth.’ The clone is keen to understand and shows a deep intelligence and curiosity about humanity. Clooney continues to explain: ‘Jones is going to destroy a whole city of people through his own greed and hate. Together we have a chance to stop a mass murder for which you bear some responsibility. Your maker is an angry and vengeful god, but we can stop him if you are willing to think the impossible, and kill him before he kills tens of thousands of people. You can confirm that you are human and real like me, and you can atone for the murder.’ The clone says nothing more and turns away, leaving the room. Armed guards then enter the laboratory and escort Clooney down a corridor to a small room, with a table, chairs and a water cooler. They tell Clooney to make himself comfortable and then lock him inside. It is one hour later when the clone enters a control room where Jonathan Jones is sat working at a desk while watching a news programme on a large TV. The clone asks him the question, ‘Are you a god because you have made animals and humans from cells? Jones is delighted that the clone seems to be developing its intelligence and thought processes at an exponential rate. However, Dr. Jones makes the costly mistake of relaxing for a moment as he replies, ‘Yes, sometimes I think I am a god.’ The clone looks at him again and says, ‘I think that there are times when killing to save others is a sign of humanity, and that is something that can save rather than harm mankind.’ The clone does not give Jones any time to reply to his statement. He puts a gun to the old man’s head and pulls the trigger. The clone then releases Clooney from the locked room. He embraces Clooney and tells him that he has killed Jonathan Jones. The clone then says goodbye, before it puts the gun to its temple and shoots itself in the head. Clooney escapes from the facility and immediately contacts the LA police detective Darcy Briggs; using a phone number she had given him at the police station. A guard at the secret research facility in New Mexico relays the precise location to the authorities, and several tactical SWAT units with full military capabilities are dispatched to the underground base to secure the site. The bodies of Jonathan Jones and the clone are recovered, and flown to an FBI mortuary in Las Vegas for full autopsies. The clone is indeed a scientific marvel and a wonder to behold as a perfect copy of Clooney, with a genetic match of 99.6 percent in its DNA. Leading figures in the world of science are astounded that research has progressed this far, without any of the information being compromised. Top American genetic scientists are dispatched to the New Mexico site to investigate the research that had gone on for decades under the noses of the American military.  
Paul Betts is taken into custody, and the nuclear bomb is retrieved and made safe by bomb disposal experts. Betts is sectioned and locked away in a mental asylum in permanent isolation and solitary confinement. His stories of nuclear attacks on Los Angeles are believed to be the insane ramblings of a paranoid schizophrenic. The full details of Jonathan Jones’ genetic research in New Mexico is known only to a handful of military and government officials, and the plot to bring down America is not revealed to the general public. The story of the murderous reproductive clone is the only information that is released into the public domain by the LAPD. The story becomes a worldwide media sensation that strengthens Clooney’s political credentials for the presidency. His exoneration and rehabilitation through the mass media is swift and complete, and he rides a wave of public support in an unstoppable march to the White House. We see photographs of Clooney on the covers of dozens of magazines, and watch video clips of various interviews with him on TV chat shows and news programmes. Even years after these events have transpired, only a handful of individuals will know the truth of just how close the United States came to nuclear disaster. In time the internet conspiracy junkies will make online claims that many things that happened at the site in New Mexico were not disclosed. The military base in the desert becomes known as ‘Jonestown’ and gains an Area 51 cult like following on conspiracy websites. Many theories online speculate on the possibility that the base housed UFOS and captured aliens. Jeffrey Daniels is never tied to the story of Jonestown by any of the conspiracy theories, and police and military officials do not reveal his involvement in the plot to destroy Los Angeles. However, Daniels is put under constant surveillance by agents of the FBI and the CIA. EPILOGUE Six Months after the Election Large television screens beam images of politics shows presented by news anchors, who are setting out the challenges facing the new American President. Political analysts are trying to answer the question of how the new commander-in-chief should tackle the issues that face him over the coming months. A camera pull back shot from the TV screen reveals the full proportions of the oval office. The two men in the room are speaking to each other in an animated fashion. President Clooney is face to face with the head of the CIA, and there are voices of disagreement. The president restates his opinion, that ‘We are a new administration that is not going to sanction these kind of overseas covert operations.’ The audience have joined the conversation at the midpoint so are unsure what military operations the security chief wants the president to sanction. It seems that President Clooney is adamant that he will not agree to any covert operations overseas. The head of the CIA explains: ‘Hard power needs to be shown here Mr. President. We need to see a response from you as the new sheriff in town, because if we don’t give a response, you will lose the authority that has been invested in you as the sheriff.’ Three Weeks Later The White House - 11AM The American president, along with various Defence officials, and four star generals are staring intently at a television screen in a small communications room in the basement of the White House. The monitor transmits pictures in ultra-high definition from far away. The live footage is being streamed from an aerial drone in Pakistan and depicts a covert operation in real time. It is 9PM at night and a black predator drone hovers outside the window of a room on the 22nd floor of a hotel in Islamabad. The president and his advisors can see inside the room, where the Pakistani General Abdul Ashraf is cavorting with three Philippine prostitutes. The general’s security guards stand to attention in the corridor outside. Meanwhile the predator drone hovers in its silent trajectory alongside the large glass windows of the hotel. There is not a sound in the White House viewing room as President Clooney turns to the man on his right and gives a nod of his head, as a confirmation for the assassination to take place. A four star general speaks quickly on an encrypted phone line to the drone operator in a military bunker in Qatar. The lieutenant who is monitoring the same video images as the White House waits for the moment when General Ashraff stands alone inside the hotel room. Abdul Ashraff is disturbed by something outside in the darkness and he walks to the window and peers out into the black night. The man who sold the nuclear bomb to Jonathan Jones is assassinated in a hail of silenced bullets, as the huge panes of glass shatter in the window frame. The hysterical screams of the three prostitutes quickly bring the helpless guards into the blood splattered room. The drone takes one last swoop over the bloody scene using a wide camera angle that shows the dead body peppered by the high velocity projectiles. The White House viewing room is convulsed in shouts of triumph at the demise of this man. However, the president does not join in with the celebration, but instead looks pensive about what he has just witnessed. It is only minutes later as we follow a new covert operation on the large television screen. The footage is being live streamed, via a secure network from Dubai, by a female CIA operative called Millie Davis. She is wearing a tiny camera located inside a button on her dress that sends video footage directly to the White House. She is alone in a hotel room with the Kazakhstan ambassador to the UAE. It has taken the beautiful agent just over a week to carefully ensnare this sexually voracious Muslim man, with a particular penchant for blonde western women Davis poisons the Kazakhstan ambassador in his hotel room with a minute dose of a nerve toxin, which she has smuggled into the UAE inside a ballpoint pen. It is almost impossible for such a small amount of nerve toxin to be discovered and that is the beauty of poison as an arbiter of death. The head of the CIA explains to President Clooney that the poison is a Botulinum neurotoxin; which is a threat as a bioweapon because of its extreme potency and ease of transport. A single gram of crystalline toxin can kill more than one million people. Botulinum toxin can be used as a military or terrorist weapon, and is easily disseminated by the contamination of water or food supplies as it has no taste or smell. The agent has added the poison to a glass of the ambassador’s favourite single malt whiskey. Moments after he drinks the scotch she watches impassively as white froth erupts from his mouth and the convulsions of his body intensify. She does not touch the dying man and continues to wait another 20 seconds for his agony to be over. The ambassador’s body becomes rigid and he dies of asphyxiation as his nervous system is disengaged by the botulinum. The staff in the White House viewing room exhale a single long breath of relief at the sight of the dead ambassador. In their eyes this was a suitable revenge on the man who had smuggled a nuclear weapon into the United States. A mood of celebration at the success of the double assassination overwhelms the assembled officials, but it is pertinent that President Clooney does not join in. He leaves the room and heads towards his private quarters. We do not see his face as he walks through the immaculately decorated corridors of the White House. He enters his private rooms and closes the door, and for the first time a tight camera angle focuses on his face. We see the appearance of a smile that signifies an understanding of his authority. This tells us everything that we need to know about Clooney’s incredible power as the new president of the United States. THE END Credits Roll A short time later we cut from the end credits of the film to images on a TV screen of a news report from CNN. The news anchor is talking about a fatal plane crash in Australia that had occurred approximately twelve hours earlier. CNN are reporting the almost certain death of Jeffrey Daniels, the young Silicon Valley billionaire who had aspirations to be the president of the United States. Daniels was a passenger on board his own Gulfstream jet, which is thought to have exploded in mid-air only a short time after take-off from Sydney airport. Eyewitness accounts claim they heard a huge explosion and saw the plane engulfed in flames plummeting to the earth. Local law enforcement say they have yet to find any survivors in the plane wreckage. Return to the Credits


End file.
